After rumors about alleged meetings between spokesmen of the National Television Commission of Colombia (CNTV) and representatives of the Japanese-Brazilian standard ISDB-T, the president of the CNTV, Juan Andrés Carreño, clarified that Colombia has not modified its decision to adopt the European DVB-T standard and that, in accordance with the provisions, the country will start in 2010 the first DTV broadcasts with the European standard. Meanwhile, Latin American countries that opted for the ISDB-T standard will create an International Cooperation Forum on this standard.
It is worth remembering that in 2009, Peru, Argentina and Chile adopted the Japanese-Brazilian digital television standard ISDB-T, with which this standard became the 'favorite' among Latin American countries. Since then, experts and representatives of different governments have pointed out the importance of unifying the DTV standard throughout the region to facilitate the exchange of content and technologies between countries.
However, the CNTV maintained in the statement that the decision taken by Colombia in this regard was serious, widely analyzed, based on complete studies and also adhered to the recommendations of the Advisory Commission, which for two years made an analysis of the system that best suited the conditions of the country.
Likewise, the entity reported that, in fact, in the coming months the European Union will open an office in the country that will accompany the implementation of the digital television standard.
While this is happening in Colombia, the countries that adopted the ISDB-T standard met in recent months in Lima, Peru and approved the proposal to create an International ISDB-T Forum, presented by the Brazilian government in partnership with the Digital Terrestrial TV System Forum (SBTVD Forum).
Soon, the representatives of the SBTVD Forum will present a concrete proposal, the detailed structure and operation of this new forum that will be characterized by being independent and will have representatives of broadcasting, transmission, reception, government and academia.
From that moment on, the project must go through a period of maturation, with a new meeting scheduled for within six months. The idea is for each country to create its own forum in accordance with local laws, objectives, characteristics and needs, and to obtain direct support from the SBTVD Forum.
The main objective of the ISDB-T International Forum will be to ensure the harmonization of technical standards among all countries adopting the standard.
According to Alan García, president of Peru, the decision of Chile, Peru and Argentina to adopt the Brazilian Japanese system of digital television, means a "mostly collective" bet.
"That means that we are learning to make integrative decisions, collective decisions and that in the future we will be able to see channels from those countries here, as channels from Peru there," he said.
